Episcopal Press and News
ALASKA: Flood cleanup begins; Episcopal villages still threatened
Episcopal News Service. May 14, 2009 [051409-01]
Pat McCaughan
Disaster-weary Alaskans on May 14 began clean-up efforts in some areas and kept a watchful eye on others, hoping floodwaters threatening three Episcopal villages would recede.
Diocesan officials, who had yet to receive damage assessments because of the sheer geographic size of affected areas, said they believe they will need to replace at least one church and repair or possibly replace two others.
No flood-related deaths or injuries had been reported, although Shirley Lee, communications and youth ministry coordinator for the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska said "people don't often mention it, but several dogs and pets were lost, and of course that does impact people."
Families that had been evacuated from Tanana to St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Fairbanks were expected to remain in local hotels, while single adults were to be moved to the nearby University of Alaska, she said.
Lee said that the Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC), a non-profit organization with a membership of Native governments from 42 Interior Alaska communities, "is taking the lead on the whole coordination effort" and offering daily informational briefings.
"What they did (at the briefing) yesterday was to go through an organizational chart mapping out how all the responding agencies are coordinating and have one point of contact for each of the villages."
Long-term recovery assistance will eventually be needed, but for the present responders were dealing with the most vital or immediate needs, "such as food or fuel and clean water," she said.
Some good news emerges as clean-up begins
Lee reported "some good news in Eagle," a village of native Alaskans, most of them Episcopalians, in one of the hardest-hit areas where clean-up efforts had begun.
"The well in the new section of the village was not contaminated, so the water supply there is good. Still," she added, "they are setting up water purification systems.
"The Tanana Chiefs Conference is sending out counselors and making sure all the medical needs are still being met for folks in the villages."
The diocese will have to replace St. John's Church in Eagle, which "was completely off its foundation," according to the Ven. Anna Franks, diocesan native missioner.
"The flood took out the church; they've begun the process of cleaning up. They are trying to get some of the roads reconstructed so people can go back to their houses to see what the damage is," Lee added.
"They are requesting all able-bodied adults who are single in Tanana to help with the cleanup efforts and are urging people with small children to still stay here in Fairbanks," Lee added.
Supplies were being sent to those who did not evacuate but remained in temporary shelters set up in the school gymnasium and elsewhere in Tanana, "because the store was completely impacted. They are also providing meals out of the elders' facility in Tanana," Lee said.
'People have lost a lot'
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service issued a flood warning and advisory for residents in some low-lying areas of the Yukon River to move to higher ground to avoid encroaching waters.
Included in that warning were villages inhabited primarily by Episcopal church congregations, which were in the path of floodwaters: Shageluk, with about 150 residents; Anvik, with about 50; and Grayling, with a population of about 200.
"We are still waiting to see if the ice is going out," Lee said. She added that the flooding had destroyed both homes and businesses.
"Most everybody in those villages are subsistence. They have summer fish camps along the river. When the flood came through, it took out many of those camps, and that is one of the concerns," said Lee.
"People may have a place to go home to in the village, if the flood didn't take their home, but their camp might have been wiped out, which will impact their ability to get and store food for the winter.
"It's not like they're able to run down to the local supermarket to get what they need every day. Some of them have lost equipment, such as boats and motors and nets that are important to their livelihood and those are some of the things being assessed," she added
Franks had described evacuees as "in shock" during a May 13 telephone interview. Some residents evacuated to St. Matthew's Church in Fairbanks "were sitting around crying. They were devastated," she said. "Some people only got out of there with the clothes on their backs.
"The water just came too fast. One woman said she was talking on the phone to her sister, who lives in Tanana, and her sister said, 'Oh my God, there's a house floating by.' People have lost a lot."
The Fairbanks-based diocese has been seeking a diocesan bishop, since the 2006 departure of Bishop Mark McDonald to become the first National Indigenous Bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada. Bishop Rustin Kimsey became assisting bishop of Alaska in February 2009.
The diocese encompasses 53 congregations, and covers the entire state, which has a land mass of 586,412 squares miles with 47,300 miles of coastline, three million lakes and more than 3,000 rivers. About 1/20 or 160,000 acres of Alaska's 365 million acres are inhabited.
An Alaska rural advisor was supposed "to go out and fly to Tanana, Stevens Village, and Eagle and a state assessment team was reportedly enroute to assess flood damage in Beaver, Circle, and a few other villages, reportedly concluding their assessment by Sunday."
Lee said a special worship service for flood victims is being planned for mid-week and the diocese is sending the Rev. Norm Elliott out to offer spiritual assistance to flood victims.
Contributions to assist evacuees and others may be sent by check, earmarked for flood relief, to the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska, 1205 Denali Way, Fairbanks, AK 99701.